夏服がいいでしょう | 9:23 PM >

First things first: I cave, you bastards. I cave. I now have a Facebook page. And it's your fault.

I never actually do the "post more frequently" thing, do I? There's always the promise and then... nothing. Part of it is that my life is generally not too exciting and I don't feel like wasting your time with minutiae. I think the other part of it is that I'm a lazy fucker.

On the up side, since I haven't posted in a while I actually have quite a few things to say. First, let me tell you a little something about Thérèse Velasquez Continueva Ortega L., Esquirette:

She's one of the best friends a guy could have, and I'm not just saying that because of her l33t Guitar Hero skillz (which I've yet to witness in person).

It's amazing how some things line up. I'm not one for coincidences, but when it comes to the best friends and the most important experiences of my lifetime things just seem to fall into line in a way that's most conducive to me not bugging the fuck out. May was a good example of this. I had a bit of a personal life implosion, to say the least, and just as everything came to a head Thérèse came to town with Kilbourne. The trip had been planned for ages, but there's no way I could have known when I first heard she was coming (some time last year, if I recall) how much I needed her around when she was here. T, you have no idea how narrowly you helped me avert a breakdown.

So other life stuff... I've been online less and less because I've gone from part-time to full-time at the place where I teach. It's been a lot of fun so far, and the students don't hate me, so I'm starting to feel relatively settled there. Today, actually, before I arrived at a writer's workshop (I'm part of two in town) I hit up a book store for one of my classes for a bunch of English texts I'll be using this week.

I have two new obsessions for those times when I'm too tired to do anything else. Both are embarrassing.

The first is Ugly Betty. I'd avoided it since I first heard about it because after hearing the "treatment" I'd felt it was going to be another offensive trainwreck, not unlike Survivor or something equally terrible. How wrong I was. It's amazing that so much is packed into the show; even "supporting" cast members get slowly fleshed out and the audience gets to be privy to their motivations. I think what gets me most, though, is that America Ferrera is, in real life, anything but ugly. Better still is that the character Betty, despite her dowdy clothing, braces, and unfortunate footwear manages to be prettier than most of the folks around her. Hell, she certainly had Selma Hayek beat after Hayek's character's midseason craziness (which I won't spoil for you on the chance you haven't seen the show and might want to watch. But yes, Hayek's in it for like five or six episodes).

The second new obsession is worse than the first. Mike clued me onto it. It's called Lucky Star, and it's one of the few anime shows I've watched where I'm ashamed I get 90% of the jokes. Mike described it as Seinfeld set in a Japanese high school, and I agree with that assessment, but it's also squarely aimed at otaku meaning there are a tonne of in-jokes about old anime shows and video games, most of which are spouted off by Konata (the girl with blue hair). I can imagine this particular show never making it stateside; you have to have lived in Japan, played a bunch of video games in Japanese, AND be an avid fan of old anime to really get into it. Like I said, it's embarrassing to admit how much I laugh myself out of my chair watching it. But if you don't know what "Behoime" is or have to have moe explained to you, you probably shouldn't bother looking for this show.

日本人の友達へ：ラキ☆スタが好きな事はお許し下さい。ルキア様の言葉を引用、「弱くてすみません！」

最近ね、生徒たちが日本人、メキシコ人、コロンビア人、韓国人などに英語を教えてる。　前に日本人だけを教えたか他の国の人を教える経験は面白い。たとえ、国によって失敗が変わる。メキシコ人は「なんさいですか」と聞いて最初に「I have 22 years」と答える。韓国人の発音はPとFの差を分からないで言葉を言って時々分からない分になる。みんなじゃないけど、ほとんどの入学者はこの問題があるの。

でもさ、僕のほうは日本語で完璧じゃかい。たぶん来週、日本語の教師を見附に行く。　忘れた日本語はいまでも覚えてる日本語よりいっぱい。　日本語で話す事や日本語で書く事は恥ずかしくなってしまった。

では、明日の授業を準備しなきゃいかない。

Oh, and let me leave you with a moment of zen. Tommy Chong, I heart you.

edit: I would so kill for the Konata (泉こなた）one of these.